Self-setting animal-trap.



No. 688,770. Patented Dec. I0, .l90l.

M. J. CANNON.

SELF SETTING ANIMAL TRAP. (Applicatiog filed Mar. 1a, 1999. Renewed ma 22, 1901.

(No Mode'l.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

w v l wmm' fiwrrz ya No. 688,770; Patented Dec. l0, I90l. M. J. CANNON.

SELF SETTING ANIMAL TRAP.

(Application filed Mar. 15, 1899. Renewal Mar. 22, 1901.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheats-Sheot 2.

writ? "rm: NORRIS Perms co, PHOTQLYTHCI. WASHINGTON. u. c.

. UNITED STATES T anion.

MICHAEL J. CANNON, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

SELF-SETTING ANIMAL-TRAP.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 688,770, dated December 10, 1901..

A Application filed March 18, 1899. Renewed March 22, 1901. Serial No. 52,400. (No model.)

To a, whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL J. CANNON, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-SettingAnimal-Traps, of which the following is a description sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable those skilled in the art to which it appertains or with which'it is most nearly connected to make and use the same.

This invention has relation to that kind of traps that are adapted to catch animals alive and that are constructed so as to be automatically reset immediately after the trap ping of each animal, thus adapting a single trap to catch alive and unharmed any number of animals to the full capacity of the trap.

It is the object of the invention to provide a trap of which the animal, even through its most acute cunning, will not be likely to be shy and which may be automatically reset after each operation, so that it maybe capable of catching any number of animals.

It is also the object of the invention to pro vide a perfect knockdown trap of the kind mentioned, so as to adapt it to be stored and shipped in commercial and other transactions without occupying more than a minimum amount of space.

To these ends the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, a preferred form of embodiment of which is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically described hereinafter, and the essential elements of which are enumerated in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings and to the letters marked thereon, forming a part of this specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, Wherever they occur.

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is afront view of my-improved self-setting animal-trap. Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view taken through the trap from front to rear. Fig. 3 is a plan view.

In the drawings, a designates the top, and b the bottom, of the trap. The said top and bottom may consist of plates of metal or any other suitable material.

Asis herein shown, the trap is made square,

bars 0 and cl and suitablyconnected therewith to form, as it were, an open grating.

fdesignatcs rods screw-threaded at their ends. The said rods f are-passed through the knuckles e of the bars cand (Z and through holes made in the plates ct and b, and nuts hi turned on the rods against the plates and knuckles serve to hold them together and to form the cage of the trap,-as shown.

j designates a drop or lid made to fit an opening in the top a and pivoted at its sides tothe top, so that its forward end may be tipped downward, as is shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, and so also that it may be held up in a substantially horizontal position. and substantially on a level with the top of the box by a latch k, supported by a guide Z, and pressed normally forward under the lid j by a spring m. The lower end of a lever a is loosely connected with the outer end of the latch k, the upper end of the said lever extending over the lid The said lever 01 is fulcrumed on a lug 0 on the cage and extends through slots 19 made in a plate (1 bent into an inverted-V shape in cross-section and secured on the top of the cage, with the inner face adjacent to the forward edge 1 of the lid j. The inner end of the lever a may be formed as a hook or otherwise constructed to receive a bait; and the lower face of the inner end of the latch is beveled, as at i, so that the lid when it swings to horizontal position from the position in which it is shown in Fig. 2 will be latched in said horizontal position; and in order to restore the lid to horizontal position after its forward end has been depressed a spring a may be made to operate on the rear end. This spring may be made to hear down upon the rear end of the lid or to draw down thereon, as may be most convenient or best suited to the circumstances.

A door 1; is provided whereby access may be gained to the cage of the trap.

In the use of my trap, after it is set up a bait may be hung upon the inner end of the bait-lever n, as sh own by dottedlines in Fig. 2, when the animal, whatever it may be, gotting upon the lid j and reaching for the bait and drawing upon the inner end of the lever, will withdraw the latch 75, so as to allow the inner end of the lid to drop to the dotted-line position shown.in Fig. 1. and so dump, it were, the animal into the cage. After the animal shall have slid off from the lid it will be returned to normal position by the action of the spring u, or it may be by gravity if the lid is constructed so that its rear end may overhalance its forward endl After the inner end of the lid passes above't he latch the lat ter will return to normal position by action of the spring m and so reset the trap and bring the lid into position have another animal acting thereon caught in the trap, as

before described. The plate q being arranged in the position shown will prevent the animal,

after the latch has been withdrawn, from catching upon any part .of the trap, so as to avoid being dumped int-b the cage.

It is obvious that the plate q and the lever 92 and, manner of pivoting it, asialso the form of the latch cooperating with the lid j, may be varied in form fromt'that shown in the drawings without. departing from the-nature or spirit of the invention, and, furthermore, the sides of the cage maybe varied in form, since it is not necessary that the wires, such as are shown, should extend between the bars c and (I. Any other form of'connection suited to the purpose will answer the ends of my trap. 2

By making the parts so that they can be separated, as hereinbefore described, it will be seen that a knockdown trap may be made so that it may be packed in very compact form for shipping or storage.

The trap may be made of any size desired, as it may be desired to catch larger or smaller animals, as a mouse-trap of quitesmall size with a latch k, delicately operated, or it may be made of a size even large enough .to entrap a bear, with the parts made correspondingly strong and to suit circumstances.

Having thus explained the nature of the in vention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it -may be made or all'of the modes of its use, it

is declared that what is claimed is- An animal-trap embodying in its construction a cage having a top provided with a pivoted drop-lid yieldingly actuated to closed position; a spring-held sliding latch engaging under the free end of said lid for holding the latter in normally closed position; a baitholding lever pivoted intermediate. its ends and having one end projecting'over the lid and the other end turneddownwardly and operatively connected with the latch to Withdraw the same and allow the lid to drop to open position under the weight of the animal;

together with a guard-plate affixed to the top.

of'the cage and housing the pivot of the lever, said plate having, a sloping side extending to the edge of the opening in the cage-top. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 6th day of March, A. D. 1899.

MICHAEL J. CANNON. Witnesses:

ARTHUR W. (JRossLEY, GEO. N. GODDARD. 

